I surely understand the reason for wanting to donate items rather than money, but unless you have a way of knowing precisely what is needed, where, and how to get it there without it getting lost, stolen or otherwise not intact, money can be much more helpful to the area where it is needed. So investigate the organizations very carefully, There are reputable ones out there. If you send money, it can be used to also reinvigorate the local economy after the disaster (buying supplies locally for example is good for the business that was also hit with the disaster, so you are really helping both the business operator and the person who needs the supplies). Also, some organizations are able to fairly distribute new items (buying 10,000 pairs of shoes/10,000 meals /10,000 equivalent cash distributions)—so that what is being distributed is done fairly – where donated goods vary so much that it is hard to fairly divide them up. It’s a tough call, I totally understand wanting to donate items rather than money, but can understand why money can be more helpful. I suppose the important thing is that people are doing what they can, whatever that is—donating time, money or goods. And regarding the original question, there is a good article on cnn.com about the difference, describing as others on this question have the difference between the disasters in Chile and Haiti, pointing out the differences in infrastructure and the high level of poverty in Haiti (so the suffering is a universal thing, but Chile was much more prepared for this than Haiti).